Nervous? Ticks

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Recent mild winters and wet summers have left the UK facing a "plague of blood-sucking ticks", reports the Sun, which says that as the weather warms in the coming weeks, billions of the parasites will hatch in woodland across the country.

It's a "ticking timebomb" according to the Daily Mirror, which quotes zoologists saying the bugs can spread the potentially deadly Lyme disease. The best way to remove them is to use tweezers close to the skin, press and twist out, it says, although bites are best prevented using insect repellent.

The Times reports that one flat in London's swanky One Hyde Park development has sold to an Eastern European for £140m - or £10,000 per square foot.

However, the paper says he's not the only one to "play the crying game" and ranks stars past and present with a "Tear-o-meter". Terry gets four teardrops, along with Paul Gascgoine, famous for sobbing after being booked in the 1990 World Cup semi-final, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who was reduced to tears after being awarded the Ballon d'Or.

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is bottom of the puffy-eyed league table, getting only two teardrops for his emotional display after the Reds beat Manchester City to give them a shot at their first title for 24 years. The paper's cartoonist, Scott, has a Chelsea fan remarking: "My eyes water every time I see the price for a ticket."

Times cartoonist Morten Morland sums up the concerns by drawing a dove - olive branch in beak - bound up in the tape from a cassette marked "Boston College", whose research has been used by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in its investigations into Mrs McConville's death.

The Guardian says "nervous officials" have been consulting Whitehall rulebooks to determine what would happen if Mr Adams' detention prompted Sinn Fein to abandon its support for the power-sharing agreement. "The answer is not pretty: new elections and the return of direct rule from London if [Sinn Fein's] Martin McGuinness resigned as deputy first minister and the [nationalist] SDLP declined to support a new executive."

Meanwhile, noting that Mrs McConville's son has said he would not tell police the names of his kidnappers for fear of reprisals, the Daily Mail says: "For all the welcome progress since the Good Friday Agreement... there remains much work still to do in Northern Ireland."

In its editorial column, the Times says police pursuit of suspects on both sides of the sectarian divide is crucial given a "growing sense that what peace Northern Ireland now enjoys has been bought at too high a price in justice foregone". It adds: "All three governments with an historic role in the Irish peace process, in London, Dublin and Washington, must re-engage with it at the highest level. The alternative is to sleepwalk back to disaster."

The Financial Times points to unresolved issues including the lack of an agreement on how to deal with suspects still on the run who remain liable to arrest, and how to treat conflict-related crimes where no-one is wanted for the offence. "This failure is coming back to haunt the peace process," it says, adding: "Justice must be done - but it should be aided by a formal process that sees all sides acknowledge responsibility for the wrongs they have inflicted."

Clarkson said he'd mumbled the racist term in a bid to obscure the word when reciting the nursery rhyme, "eeny, meeny, miny, moe". But the Daily Mirror, which brought to light the footage in question, says: "What this undignified episode has shown is that in the 21st Century it's unacceptable for a prominent public figure to use derogatory language - whether mumbled or otherwise."

And the Guardian lists a string of controversies involving the presenter, including calling for striking public sector workers to be "executed", calling partially sighted ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" and comments interpreted as homophobic.

However, Clarkson's "old friend" Richard Littlejohn writes in the Daily Mail that the footage is "at best... inconclusive" and that the woman who investigated the tape had said she was only 75% sure he'd used the word. "Isn't that what a court of law would consider grounds for acquittal on the basis of 'reasonable doubt'?" he asks.

And the Sun - which pays the provocative star to write a column - argues: "There's not a racist bone in Jeremy Clarkson's body... Our Jeremy meant no offence. It's not often we can say that."

Cameron vs. Cameron

Judge Anthony Leonard ruled that cuts to legal aid fees meant there was "no realistic prospect" of five defendants suspected of a £5m swindle being able to find barristers willing to work and so dismissed the case, saying there was no chance of them getting a "fair trial".

The Ministry of Justice blamed the trial's collapse on barristers making a political point and said a senior QC could still expect to earn £100,000 from the taxpayer for taking on the case.

The Mail says there has "always been an edge to the rivalry" between the pair, with Alex - who is three years older - being the better sportsman and student, while David attended a more prestigious university.

Nearly 70 law chambers had refused to take on the case for the money on offer, and other complex and high-profile fraud prosecutions are now in jeopardy, reports the Times.